Noodle machine



J. p... MARIAN] NOODLE MACHINE April 18, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledNov. 18 1943 N R O T T L M Fm m INVENTOR fi/w/A/v/ April 1950 J. 1..MARIAN] 2,504,339

NOODLE MACHINE I Filed Nov. 18, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 75% L/7/l,( 4/V/ April 18, 1950 J. MARIANI NOODLE MACHINE .5 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Nov 18, 1943 NVENTOR Toy/v A. flAP/AN/ g t ETEORNEY April 18, 1950J. L. MARIAN! NOODLE MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. 18, 1943 mm MNMN INVENTOR fay/v4- fi/i 2 MTTORNEY J. L. MARIANI NOODLE MACHINE April18, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 18, 1943 Patented Apr. 18, 1950UNITED STATES AENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to the manufacture of noodles and moreparticularly to a novel and useful machine for producing, in acontinuous manner, relatively large quantities of noodles at lowunitmanufacturing cost.

It is known in the noodle making art to produce separate noodles inlarge quantities from a dough mass and to dry'the so-called wet noodlesby a continuous conveyor method. In accordance with prior art devicesand methods, the noodles are passed through-the drying chamber in a hitor miss fashion, with the result that the noodles become variouslydeformed. This lack of uniform shape and size of the individual-noodlesnot only'increases the difliculty with which they are packed, usually byplacing them in rectangular cartons, but also increases the likelihoodof breakageof the dry noodles which; in that state, are, of course,relatively brittle. In accordance with prior art construction andmethod, also, the individual noodl'esare tossed and turned as'they areconveyed through the drying chamber and this results in a certain amountof abrasion of the noodles; causing an accumulation of fine debris inthe chamber which must be removed. In this step of drying it is, ofcourse, desirable that a maximum amount of surface be exposed to theaction of the drying medium; usually super-heated air and to thatpurpose, the individual' noodles are changed inposition. In accordancewith the present invention the noodles, oncethey have been removed fromthe noodle making mechanism, are supported in a single relative positionwith a maximum amount of the surface of the noodle exposed to the actionof the drying medium.

It is thereforeamong the principal objects of the present invention-t0provide a novel and useful noodle making machine wherein a doughmass orstrip of dough is furnished to-the machine at the beginning of theoperation and completely formed and fully dried individual noodles ofuniform shape and size are placed in a carton therefor anddispensed bythe machine at the end of the operation.

Another object herein lies in the provision of a machine and method ofthe class described wherein the operation is continuous andsubstantially automatic.

The important feature of the present invention means'whereby theindividual noodles; in plural correlated arrangement, are automaticallydeposited upon noodle carriers, which" carriers are consecutively movedthrough the drying chamber.

Another object herein lies in the provision of a noodle conveyingstructure'whereby the noodles are carried through the machine upto'the'point of discharge without a change in position thereof, withrelation'to themselves. This last mentioned carriage of the noodles isaccomplished even though the general path of movement of the noodlesthrough the machine is bent upon itself many times to createa maximumdrying efi'ect within the drying chamber.

Another object herein lies in the provision of means for thetransportation to the machine of a'series of unfilled cartons andthetransportation from the machine of a series of" filled cartons.

Another object herein lies in' the provision of noodle packing"mechanism which automatically removes; thenoodles from the carrierstherefor and deposits themin a hopper.

Another object herein liesin the provision of mechanism for removingapredetermined amount of noodles from thehopper and" placing this amountwithina carton therefor.

Anotherobject herein lies in the provision of means for the transfer offilled cartons from the empty carton supplying conveyor to the filledcarton removing conveyor.

Another object herein lies in the provision of correlating means wherebyallof the separate but dependent functions of the machine and steps ofthemethod may be accomplished in an automatic manner.

Another object herein lies in the provision of a machine of the classdescribed in which the availahlespace is used efiiciently so that amaximum amount of finished noodles may be turned out by machineryoccupying a-minimum of space:

These objects and other incidental things and advantages will more fullyappear in the progress of this disclosure.-

In the drawings inwhich similar reference characters designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a front elevational viewof a noodle making machine showing apreferred embodiment of the invention. In this figure certain of theparts are broken away and shown in partial section. Other parts arefragmented.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view'asseen from theplane'3-3 oil-Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view as seen fromthe plane 44 on Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, partly an elevation,as seen from the plane 55 on Figure 4.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view as seenfrom the plane 6-6 on Figure 4.

In accordance with the invention the noodles, generally indicated bynumeral I I, enter the machine in the form of a strip of noodle doughI3, are severed into individual noodles by the noodle making mechanismI4. From the noodle making mechanism I4 they are automatically depositedupon the noodle carriers, generally indicated by numeral I2, which arein turn part of and moved by the main noodle conveyor I5. The noodleconveyor I5 enters a drying chamber I6 where it follows a circuitouspath and wherein the noodles I I are acted upon by the drying mediumwhich may be a heated current of air supplied through the air supplyingconduit I! and heated in any suitable manner as, for example, by thesteam radiators I8. The noodles on the lowermost traverse of theconveyor I5 are removed therefrom by the noodle removing mechanism I9and dropped into the hopper 26. The noodles slide or fall to the spoutor mouth 2i of the hopper and are then in a pile or group so that theymay be pushed through the hopper mouth into one of the empty cartonsgenerally indicated by numeral 23 by the box or carton loading mechanismgenerally indicated by reference character 24. After the particularcarton 23, disposed below the spout 2 I, has been filled, the cartontransfer mechanism, generally indicated by numeral 25, is actuated intimed sequence to push the loaded carton off of the empty cartonsupplying conveyor 26 to the full carton removing conveyor 27.

In the procedure just described, all of the various mechanisms areinter-related and timed so that the proper sequence of operations isobtained. The size of the empty cartons 23 is preferably such that theyare adapted to receive the amount of noodles in a dried state which hasbeen deposited upon and carried by five of the carriers I2. The sequenceof operations is such that after the noodles carried by a particulargiven set of five carriers have been removed therefrom by the noodleremoving mechanism l9 and these noodles have fallen to the bottom of thehopper 26 adjacent to the mouth 2|, the cam 28 of the carton loadingmechanism 24 drives the plunger 29 downwardly so that said plungerpushes said noodles through the spout 2| into the carton 23 therebelow.Some of the noodles will fall into the empty container therebelow butthe plunger 29 assists the action of gravity and forces a, sufficientquantity into the container to properly fill the same. The straight faceof the cam 28 allows the springs or other resilient means 36 to quicklyretract the plunger 29 to the uppermost position thereof. Immediatelyfollowing the said retraction of the plunger 29 the pusher 3| of thecarton transfer mechanism 25 is advanced or shifted to the right, asviewed in Figure 4 (-forwardly of the machine I0 proper) and this shiftcauses the last filled carton to be transported to the full cartonremoving conveyor which carries the filled carton in the direction ofthe movement of the filled cartons generally indicated by numeral 32.

Immediately following the transfer of a filled carton from the conveyor26 to the conveyor 21,

another unfilled carton 23 will be moved up into position below thespout or mouth 2| in time to receive the next batch of noodles as theyare removed from the next group of five noodle carr1ers.

As seen in Figure 1, the strip of noodle dough may be in the form of arelatively wide band and may be supplied to the conveyor 33 by anynoodle dough preparing machine well known in the art to which thepresent invention relates and therefore not particularly illustrated inthe drawings. The dough I3 as ejected by such machine, is in the form ofa fiat wide band and is easily transported by the conveyor 33 which maytake the form of a fiat belt supported at one end thereof by a roller ordrum 34. The noodle dough strip I3, travelling in the direction of thearrow 35, passes about an end of the conveyor and drops vertically topass between the longitudinal severing rollers 36 and 31, which arearranged in a cooperating pair to cut the relatively wide band of noodledough I3 into a series of parallel ribbons. These ribbons are relativelynarrow as compared with the strip I3 and are indicated by numeral 38.The ribbons 38 pass between a pair of cooperating rollers 39 and 46. Theroller 40 carries a pair of opposite and radially disposed cuttingblades 4I, which sever the ribbons 38 into individual lengths to formthe individual noodles II. The roller 39 thus acts as a surface againstwhich the blades 4I may act to transversely sever the ribbons of noodledough. A stripper 43 assists in removing the severed noodles from thesurface of the roller 39.

As may be seen in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the noodle making mechanism I4 maybe suitably supported by a frame work 42. In order to assure the propersynchronization between the various moving parts, they are preferablydriven from a single motive source as, for example, the electric motor44. Suitable speed reducing mechanism may be employed, such as the belt45 and the sheaves 46 and 41. The sheave 46 is fixedly secured to therear end of shaft 48 suitably journalled in the frame work 42, and theshaft 48 carries a sprocket 49 and a sprocket 56. The sprocket 49 isconnected by a chain 5| to a sprocket 52, which drives the shaft 53. Theshaft 53 is provided with a gear meshing with the gear 54 in a one toone ratio and the gear 54 is secured to the shaft 55. The shaft 55 hassecured thereto the roller 39. Shaft 53 has secured thereto a sprocket56 which is connected by a chain 5"! to a sprocket 58. The sprocket 58is secured to a shaft 59 which carries the roller 3'! and also a gearwhich meshes with the gear 60 in a one to one ratio.

It may thus be seen that since all of the mechanism just described isdirectly inter-connected, proper timing will be obtained and the noodlemaking mechanism I4 is in turn synchronized with the main noodleconveyor I5 since this last mentioned conveyor is driven by the sprocket50 on the shaft 48. The conveyor I5 may take the form of an annularchain having laterally and horizontally projecting therefrom the noodlecarriers I2. All of these carriers are substantially identical and arepreferably V-shaped in cross section so that a noodle II will besupported at only two very narrow points, such as the points 62 (seeFigure 5). This V shape in cross section configuration of the noodlecarries I2 possesses the advantages of stiffness and light weight andalso forms a passage 5| which may be entered by the heated air in thedrying chamber I6. Conveyor I5 is supported in operative position by aplurality" of idler sprockets 63'I5,-inclus'ivei The sprocket63 hasassociatedtherewith a guide roller 16 secured to the'right halidoutersurface of the chamber IS. The idler sprocket 64 is suitablyjournalledwithin anopening H in the upper portionof the chamber I6 whilethe sprocket 1.5 is located in the lower portion of. the chamber IBwithin. another suitably disposed orifice The position of the idlersprocket I5 is such as to have the lowermost or discharging traverse ofthe conveyor I5 level and at. thev lowermost portion of the chamber. I6above the hopper 20. The movement of the conveyor I5 is substantiallycontinuous and its speed of travel and length are correlated with thetemperature, relative humidity and volume of the drying medium which.passes upwardly through the chamber I6 and out of the lines 18. As iswell known in the art to which the present invention relates, thetemperature of the radiators I8 may be controlled thermostatically sothat the desired temperature of the drying medium is maintained at asubstantially constant level. By introducing the wet noodles into theupper portion of the chamber I6, these wet noodles are subjected to theaction of the most humid drying medium so'that the drying of the noodlestakes place gradually throughout their entire mass. The'noodles, as'theyapproach the lowermost traverses of the conveyor I5; are almostcompletely dry andthey are exposed to the driest portions of thedryingmedium.

The drying chamber It may be constructed in any suitable manner and needbe of a size sufficient only to encompass the traverses of the conveyorI5 therewithin. All of the moving parts supported by bearings withinthedrying chamber I6 are preferably mounted so that movement of said partsmay be made in a satisfactory manner at the elevated temperaturesobtaining therein.

As best seen in Figure 4, it will be noted that the noodles on any oneof theindividual carriers I2, as well as the weight of the carrieritself, will tend to cause a torsion in the conveyor I5 since the loadis eccentric-ally disposed. A balanced condition is obtainedby disposingcounterweights I9 onv the opposite ends of. the carriers I2. Thecarriers I2 are each rotatively mounted in the conveyor I5 and it willbe noted'that the counterweights I9 are radially offset with relation tothe axis of rotation of the carriers I2. This construction, by theaction of gravity upon the counterweights it, maintains the carriers I2in a constant position with relation to themselves so that the points ofsupport 62 are always maintained uppermost and the noodles II, as theygo through the machine, have an inverted U shape.

The idler sprocket I3 is only an idler in that it positionstheconveyorI5 at that location. It is,

however, keyed to a shaft 00 which acts as a power take-off for thenoodle removing mechanism I9, the box or carton loading mechanism 24,and the carton transfer mechanism 25. The shaft 80 is suitablyjournalled in a bearing 8| disposed in the lower portion of the rearwall 82 of the drying chamber I6 (Figure i) and has affixed thereon asprocket 83 and a helical gear 84. The helical gear 85 meshes with acomplementary gear 85 which is fixedly mounted upon a shaft 80. Theshaft 86 is suitably trunioned upon supports which are not shown for thepurpose of clarity in the drawings, so that said shaft 86 lies below andat right angles to the shaft 80. The shaft 86 has fixedly mountedthereon a sprocket 81, which is connected by means of a drive. chain 88to the sprocket fixedly mounted upon the: shaft 90.

The shaft 90 is generally horizontally disposed and is journalled inbearings 9| and 92 (see Figure 6), which extends inwardly from thedownward extensions of the side walls 93 and 94. Spaced and parallel tothe shaft 90 is another shaft 95 which is suitably journalled inthebearings 96 and 91, which are mounted similarly to the bearings 9| and52. The shaft 90 is provided with a pair of sprockets 98 and 99, whichareconnected to the sprockets I00 and IUI, respectively, bymeans of thechains I02 and I03. Since the sprockets!!! and 99 are keyedto the shaft90 they, in turn, drive the sprockets I00 and I0 I, and the latter are,in turn, keyed to the shaft 95; The chains I02 and I03 areinterconnected by tie-bars. The tie-bars I04 and I05 are provided withelongated guideways I06 and Ill? within which the plates I00 and Its areslideably mounted. As best seen in Figure 6, the plates are resilientlyurged toward the leftmost portion of the machine I0 by the springs H0and III. The right hand endsof the springs are connected to the lefthand ends of the plates, while the left hand ends of the springs areconnected to the left hand ends of the tie-bars I04 and I215,respectively. Secured to and upwardly extending. (in the active positionthereof) from the plates I08 and I09, are the noodle removing fingers H2and H3. As shown in the drawings, the noodle removing fingers I I2comprise a set of five and the noodle removing. fingers II3 comprise acorresponding set of. five. In the embodiment illustrated five fingersare disposed in each set because it is desired to remove the driednoodles from a set of five carriers at a given discharge operation.Obviously, where desired a greater or lesser number of fingers may beincluded in a given set so as to clear a greater or lesser number ofcarriers in a given discharging sequence.

By'virtue of the noodle removing mechanism I9 just described, the setsof fingers H2 and H3 alternate in active position and in moving in thedirection of the arrows on Figure 4 they carry the dried noodles II tothe right, where they fall upon adefie'ctor EM. The deflectorIIdincludes' an upper portion H5 in the form of a hingedly andresiliently mounted plate. The normal position of the plate I I5 isshown-in Figure 4 by dot dash lines. The plate I I5 is shown in thedeflected position thereof in full lines onsaid figure; Deflection ofthe plat H5 is caused by the engagement therewith of the fingers H2 or3'. The noodles I- I, after being, removed from the carriers by a givenset of fingers, fall into hopper 2c and fall further by gravity into'thelowermost portion or spout 21 thereof.

Since the operation of the conveyor I5 is substantially continuous, theoperation of the fingers H2 and H3 is synchronized by the drivespreviously described so that one set of fingers at a time will engagewith a set of five of the carriers I2 and those engaged fingers will becarried laterally of the machine I0 along with the movement of theparticular carriers or to the right,

as viewed in Figure 6. In this movement of the fingers, the plates I08and I09 are likewise carried to the right against the tension of thesprings I Ill and I I I. As soon as the fingers have moved toward thefront of the machine sufiiciently to pass about the axle 95, they dropdown and forwardly out of engagement with the carriers I2 and are thenpulled back to the original position thereof, which is to the left ofthe travel permitted. the plates I08 and I09, within. the

7 guideways I06 and I01, respectively. The upper terminals of thefingers H2 and H3 have a configuration sufiicient to engage the noodlesto remove them from the carriers therefor.

A considerable portion of the noodles which are ejected from theparticular set of carriers and deposited within the hopper will fallupon the empty carton 23 disposed below the mouth 2| of said hopper.Since the noodles within the hopper are arranged in irregular ornon-symmetrical fashion, it is desirable to positively push those whichdo not fall into the particular container of their own accord. Thus thebox or carton loading mechanism 24 assists the action of gravity andincludes the plunger 29 which is vertically reciprocated in timedcorrelation to the other moving parts of the machine. The plunger 29 hasa casing H6 therefor, which engages the outer vertical surface of saidplunger. The outer surfaces of the casing H6 are of such size andconfiguration that they may enter between the vertical walls of theempty container 23, disposed below the spout 2|, at a given time. InFigure 4 the front and rear walls of the casing I I6 are seen and inFigure the side walls of said casing are seen. The front and rear wallsH1 and H8, respectively, are provided with vertically disposed slots II9 and I within which are slidably positioned the pins |2| and I22,which project from the forward and rear surfaces, respectively, of thegenerally rectangular shaped plunger 29. This permits the casing H8 tobe dropped by the action of gravity to the position it occupies onFigure 4 with respect to the plunger 29 and permits the casing H6 to beelevated by pushing thereagainst by the upper surfaces of the noodles Hdisposed within the carton 23. Hingedly mounted to the lowermost edgesof the side walls I23 and I24 of the easing I I6 are the packing platesI25 and I26. These plates are resiliently urged in the lower positionthereof shown in the full lines on Figure 5 by coil springs associatedwith the hinges which serve to connect said packing plates to the loweredges of the said walls I23 and I24. The resilient movability of theseplates allows the casing HIS to make a yielding contact with the noodlesin the container so that when the plunger 29 is moved to its lowermostposition during the loading operation, the noodles within the containerare not directly acted upon, with a consequent reduction in crushing orcrumbling of the noodles which are relatively brittle at this stage. Theplunger 29 has a central vertical connecting rod I21 extending upwardlytherefrom and the upper end of said connecting rod is secured to acrosshead I28. The crosshead I28 is provided with a trunnioned rollerfollower I29 and with upstanding slide rods I39, which are suitablyslideably mounted in the bearings I3I. The bearings I 3| are suitablyconnected to the forward surface of the front wall I 32 of the dryingchamber I6. The plunger 29 is resiliently urged into the elevated orpre-loading position thereof by the contractile springs or resilientmeans 39. The follower I29 is acted upon by the cam 28 of peculiarconfiguration best seen in the drawings and said cam is keyed to theforward end of a shaft I33 (Figure 4).

Said shaft is journalled in the bearing I34 and the front and rear wallsI32 and 82, respectively. Afiixed to the rear end of the shaft I33 is asprocket I35 which is connected by a chain I38 to the sprocket 83. Thusthe vertical reciprocation of the plunger 29 is correlated to the 8movement of the conveyor I5 since the sprocket 83 is driven by the shaftwhich in turn receives its motion from the sprocket I3.

The cam 28 has a plunger lowering edge I31 which quickly pushes theplunger down during only a portion of the cycle of revolution of theshaft I33. The plunger return edge I38 permits an almost instantaneousreturn. Thus the action of the plunger 29 is to suddenly push thenoodles which have not fallen into the carton therein and to quicklycome back away from the carton so that said plunger or the casing therearound do not interfere with the carton transfer mechanism 25, about tobe described.

Disposed below the bottom wall I39 of the drying chamber I6 is a supportplatform I48 provided with a pair of upstanding bearings I4I withinwhich is slideably disposed a push rod I42. The forward end of the pushrod has affixed thereto the pusher 3| which is shown in the inactiveposition thereof in full lines in Figure 4. The pusher 3| has connectedand rearwardly extending from the right edge thereof a stop plate I43.The pusher 3|, together with the stop plate I43, is horizontallyoscillated forwardly and rearwardly of the machine In to push a filledcontainer 23 from a position below the spout 2| off of the empty cartonsupplying conveyor 26 forwardly onto the full carton removing conveyor21. The carton disposed below the spout 2| is properly positioned by astop member I44 and is guided at the rear surface thereof by the guideI45.

The rear end of the push rod I42 has a clevis connection I46 to a linkI41 and the rear end of said link is pivotally connected to the lowerend of a lever I48, the upper end of said lever being pivotallyconnected at I49 to a support I58 extending rearwardly off the wall 82.The lever I48 is normally resiliently urged in a rearward direction bythe contractile spring or resilient means I5I. The forward end of saidSpring |5I is connected to the lever I48 and the rear end of said springis suitably connected to a support I52, which is fixed in position inany suitable manner with respect to the machine In or a frame memberthereof. The upper portion of the lever I48 is provided with a followerI53 which is adapted to be acted upon by a cam surface I54 secured tothe circular plate I55. The plate I55 is keyed to the shaft 86. Thuswhen the plate I55 and the cam surface I54 revolve in a clockwisedirection, as viewed in Figure 4, periodically the mechanism justdescribed will cause the pusher I3I to be oscillated forwardly of themachine to push a filled carton from the conveyor 26 to the conveyor 21.Upon disengagement of the surface I54 with the follower I53 the spring|5| acts to retract said pusher 3| to the inactive position thereof.

The operation of the entire machine and particularly the synchronizationthereof will be understood when it is seen that substantially all of theinterrelated drives are of one to one ratio with the exception of thedrive obtained by the chain 88, the last mentioned drive being a two toone step-up because of the double sets of fingers H2 and H3.

It may thus be seen that I have disclosed a novel and useful noodlemaking machine which is capable of continuous noodle production on arelatively large scale with reduced cost of production. All of theoperations are substantially automatic so that a minimum of operatorsupervision is required.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be restricted to theexact details shown and described because obvious modifications willoccur to a person skilled in the art to which the present inventionrelates.

I claim:

1. In a noodle making, machine, a conveyor consisting of a chain havingchanneled elements free at one end and adapted to support noodle stripsfor passage through a drying zone and to a hopper, and mechanismconsisting of fingers movable longitudinally of the channelled elementsand operative to slide the noodle strips longitudinally of saidchanneled elements and off the free end of the same for discharge intothe hopper.

2. Means as defined in claim 1 wherein said noodle sliding mechanismcomprises fingers straddling the channeled elements and movable in adirection transverse to the direction of movement of the conveyor andadapted to engage the noodle strips to slidably eject the latter fromthe supports.

JOHN L. MARIANI.

10 REFERENCES CITED The following, references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 564,287 Knodenberg et al. July21, 1896 1,090,509 Wild Mar. 17, 1914 1,099,114 Bracy June 2, 19141,192,336 Mueller July 25, 1916 1,304,104 Schiller May 20, 19191,707,088 Lynch Mar. 26, 1929 1,967,213 Beplate July 24, 1934 1,985,574Mariani Dec. 25, 1934 2,037,724 Jacobs et a1 Apr. 21, 1936 2,100,821 Sim1 Nov. 30, 1937 2,175,560 Friden Oct. 10, 1939 2,336,415 Nordquist et a1Dec. 7, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 53,059 Austria Apr. 10,1912

